


Seeing Connections

by Listentothelittlebird



Series: Code Bat [29]
Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Damian acts unsubtle to let Lian pick up the hints, Damian and Lian are a chaos duo, Don't leave them together unsupervised, Gen, Identity Reveal, Not Canon Compliant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-07
Updated: 2021-01-07
Packaged: 2021-03-17 15:02:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,059
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28601877
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Listentothelittlebird/pseuds/Listentothelittlebird
Summary: Lian is as sharp as her Dad, if not more so. Couple that with a few intentional slips, and Lian easily learnt the secret.
Relationships: Damian Wayne & Bruce Wayne, Damian Wayne & Dick Grayson, Lian Harper & Damian Wayne, Lian Harper & Roy Harper
Series: Code Bat [29]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1964452
Comments: 28
Kudos: 394





	Seeing Connections

**Author's Note:**

> Grace Douglas on chapter 2 of [Collecting the Hints](https://archiveofourown.org/works/28418526) mentioned a scene where Bruce talks to Roy, and I wrote something pretty similar to that XD
> 
> Lian's a smart little bean, don't underestimate her :3

Lian remembered when Irey and Jai first started training at the tower. 

More accurately, Irey started training with them, as the current Kid Flash, while Jai looked on with a bag of chips in one hand and his phone in the other, switching between scrolling through social media and observing the training.

The Flash was there, the overprotective father supervising their very first training. Lian was glad her own Dad was not like that - at least, he looked like he wanted to be overprotective, sometimes, but he would visibly hold himself back from becoming too overbearing. 

Flash frowned slightly, looking wary as Canvas readied himself to face Irey. They were going to spar without powers, just to see where she stood. Irey cast an uncomfortable glance at the dual blades that Canvas was holding before falling into a defensive stance. Canvas easily caught their unease.

Canvas straightened up and retracted the blades into their white handles, readjusting his grip until he was holding the handles at their ends as opposed to the middle. “Would you prefer if I fought this way?” Canvas asked, Irey nodding gratefully with a smile. 

He reverted back to his battle stance, with a slight difference. Lian grew up learning nearly the same things as Canvas, and so the distinct lack of League-trained techniques was obvious to her. He was using the white handles as a completely different weapon.

Some of his movements were similar to what Lian usually saw from the boy, but it was apparent to her now that each of those movements were from a distinctive style that Canvas had been taught, and had mixed with his previous training with blades and swords. 

Lian took note of the fighting style, pondering whether she would know the person who had mentored Canvas, whether the name would ring any bells, even if he told her.

~

Irey, Jai and Jon were the only ones who actually went to public schooling anymore, and it figured that they were the ones who suggested gathering around in a circle and shooting off questions at each other. At first, Jai had suggested truth or dare, but it had been quickly shut down by a combination of Jon and Irey, who took one look at the other children in the circle and knew that nothing good would come out of an accepted dare.

“Who gave you those?” Jai questioned curiously, nodding at Canvas’ weapons, the two white handles strapped to the sides of his robe. Canvas looked down, hesitated for a moment, before responding simply with, “A mentor of mine.”

A mentor outside of the League, giving the unfamiliar fighting style. Not that he elaborated, of course.

~

“Tt,” Canvas picked at the blade and wedged it out of its wobbly position, pulling it clean off the handle, “That’s a shame.”

The blade had shifted when Canvas struck out at Jon during training, had bent under the half-Kryptonian’s resistant skin. Jon apologised another time, face pinched guiltily, and Canvas waved away his remorse.

“It’s alright,” he assured, “You have nothing to be sorry for. It simply reached the end of its use, is all.”

“With that said, D, it’s alright to be a bit sad about it breaking,” Maya patted Canvas’ cloaked head, receiving a glare in response, “I mean, I’ve never seen you without your two blades-on-sticks. I’m sure we can find a way to fix it, though!”

Canvas tutted again, glancing back down at his weapon with a sad tilt to his lips. Lian could see it, too - the damage was done to the weapon. It was unlikely to be properly salvageable, without making it even easier to break.

As Lian was leaving the training room, Red Robin entered. From her peripheral, Canvas showed the older boy the broken weapon with what looked like a pout. Red Robin patted his shoulder in consolation, and Lian thinks she heard something along the lines of “getting a new one” from their conversation as she walked away.

The next time they met, Canvas had the look of a kid suppressing their happiness at getting a new toy. He had a set of new blades, with handles that were white but splotched with faint colours, just like his robe. He provided no explanation to how he had been given a new set, at such short notice.

~

Lian was up at 4 am and too restless to go back to sleep, so she decided to head towards the training room.

The room was already occupied. She peeked in and, when the two people sparring paid her no attention, quietly slipped in to observe the fight.

Canvas was sparring against Nightwing, both of them in black body armour, Canvas’ plain and Nightwing’s sporting his bright blue bird insignia. Canvas’ blades clashed with Nightwing’s escrima sticks, which were buzzing with electricity.

She frowned at the display, frowned at the way Nightwing moved. Nightwing grasped the escrima sticks at their ends, moving with smooth grace that had him dodging and attacking with the same momentum. It was the style that Canvas had adopted, when working without his blades.

The similarity in fighting styles was obvious, now, as she watched both of them face-off. The duel soon ended, with Nightwing striking out with his electricity, causing Canvas to stutter for a split second, enough time to be flipped over and pinned.

There was a moment’s pause before Nightwing broke the hold, helping Canvas to his feet. Canvas cast his green domino mask in Lian’s direction, and she got the feeling that they had known the moment she had walked in, but had elected to ignore her.

“Harper,” Canvas greeted, gesturing to Nightwing, “One of my mentors, Nightwing. He modified a pair of escrima sticks as a gift, to me.”

Nightwing ruffled the boy’s hair with a fond smile and a raised eyebrow, “Just a mentor?”

Canvas paused significantly, head tilting in an eye-roll, “Tt. He is also my brother, in anything but blood. There, happy?”

Lian’s eyes narrowed.

“You, Nightwing, Red Hood and Red Robin.” Lian revelled in the impressed looks that were sent her way, “Am I missing anyone?”

Nightwing hummed, looking down at Canvas with an easy grin. Canvas huffed. “My father,” Canvas stated, “Any answers?”

Lian frowned. She gave a disbelieving snort. “Batman?”

“Spot on,” Nightwing grinned, “How did you arrive on that one?”

Lian rolled her eyes. “Vigilantes that are all good at stealth, do not have superpowers, use an assortment of gadgets that must cost a small fortune to produce, and are very good at combat while all adopting similarly unique fighting styles,” Lian listed, raising a finger for each point. She raised an eyebrow, “In fact, now that I think about it, all of you like throwing sharp objects at people. I’ve seen Jay stick a kitchen knife in a wall, I should know.”

Nightwing laughed freely, while Canvas tried to control the twitch of his lips. Lian rolled her eyes. Similar, and yet so very different.

~

The next time Lian’s Dad went to a Wayne Gala in Gotham, he asked if Lian wanted to join. Lian agreed.

She found a familiar head of black hair, shortly into the night.

“D,” she piped up with a grin, joining the boy in hiding from view behind a pillar. The boy sighed and turned her way, green eyes unimpressed but amused.

“Did you come just to bother me at an event?” Damian Wayne questioned dryly, his tone and accent the same as it always had been, whether in civilian clothes or Canvas uniform.

“I came to confirm my suspicion,” Lian shrugged, giving a cursory glance at the ballroom. The Waynes were scattered about, entertaining the crowd like it was a show to be put on for the public. In a way, it was.

“So,” Lian turned back to her friend with a smile, “Damian, huh? I think it suits you.”

“Tt. It’s my name, Harper. I’d be concerned if it didn’t.” He was smiling, the slightest quirk of his lips. His eyes were more expressive, amusement twinkling inside even despite their sharp gaze. Maybe that was why they wore domino masks - the eyes were the window to the soul, or something like that. Lian had heard Jay say that, before.

“Who else knows?” Lian asked, because she thinks that Nightwing and Canvas’ spar was intentional, that he was trying to reveal their connections. “Maya, Suren, and Jon,” Damian answered, then tilted his head towards the crowd, “Your father figured it out before we even revealed ourselves, properly. Superman visited the Batcave and found out there. The Flash and Impulse, as well.”

Lian grinned, at that. “So you guys do have a Batcave?” she questioned excitedly. She glanced around, and whispered, “Where is it?”

Damian huffed. “Like I’d tell you,” he retorted. He paused, shifted something in his ear, and gave a smirk that had his eyes light up in mischief.

He turned and weaved into the crowd, and Lian followed, suppressing her grin as they slipped out of the ballroom without detection.

~

Jason paused in his talking for a brief moment, tilting his head to the side and listening to a disguised comm in his ear. He grinned.

“Baby Bat and your daughter infiltrated the Batcave,” he reported gleefully, and Roy froze. He was soon following after his friend as they descended down a dimly-lit flight of stairs into the large cavern of the Batcave.

Bruce Wayne was glaring down at Damian and Lian. Damian had his nose upturned defiantly, while Lian was smiling sweetly, no trace of guilt on her face. Her smile seemed to widen when Roy appeared.

“We timed Batman,” she giggled, “He took ten minutes to find us down here.”

She raised her hand for a high-five, and Damian obliged. Bruce’s glare dropped with a put-upon sigh that reminded Roy of himself, whenever Lian decided to do something questionable. Like taking apart an explosive arrow, without supervision.

“Lian,” Roy frowned, tone exasperated and more resigned that it should be - he was still young, for crying out loud, he should not be a tired Dad at this age. As he predicted, Lian only looked slightly remorseful, before the expression was wiped for another grin.

“I didn’t know they had an actual Batcave,” Lian rambled happily, gesturing to the cavern around them, “I mean, look at this place! It’s massive!”

They coaxed the two children back towards the ballroom with little resistance. They had done nothing but enter the Batcave, and between all the crazy things that Roy had seen in his life, a little rebellion never hurt anyone. Roy looked at Batman and imagined him raising Dick, Jay, and Tim before Damian, and realised that he was probably used to this brand of teenage trouble.

Bruce held Roy back as the others exited the cavern.

“I was told that you figured out our relations before the robot attack,” Bruce stated bluntly, “When did you first put together the clues?”

Roy went into a brief summary of everything he had seen and catalogued - everything that had caught his eye over the years, right up until the most recent Code Bat, Jay straight-up asking Bizarro for his brother’s location to speed up the rescue.

“I think I first really gave the idea some thought when we went to rescue Dick from the alien planet,” Roy shrugged, “After that point, I kept seeing similarities between Jay and Dick. Then Canvas came along and started to train with Lian, and that gave me chances to observe both Tim and Damian.”

Bruce remained silent throughout the whole explanation, and Roy tried not to let his nerves show, too much. When he was done talking, Bruce nodded curtly. 

“You did well to put everything together,” Bruce stated, and wow, did he just get a compliment from Batman?

“I am… grateful, that you did not call out any of your observations,” Bruce hesitated, “You let us reveal ourselves in our own time, and I thank you for that.”

Roy could only nod mutely to that.

“What’s the hold up, old man?” Jason’s voice trailed to them from the top of the stairs, “Wait, are you interrogating Roy? Go easy on him!”

“Rude!” Roy yelled back, and Bruce chuckled and strode past him. 

“We should head back up, before Dami and Lian can do anything else.”

Roy smiled. “Agreed.”

**Author's Note:**

> :D


End file.
